Thursday, December 27, 2007

Relativist and openminded.

I am at a cafe in San Luis Obispo. The barista did not draw pictures in the foam of my latte. This is no longer acceptable.

In Sac, I go to the same cafe every morning. I bring my mug, which is unusually adorable; you can tell I stole it from Ali because it gets looks and compliments. I've seen the usual morning barista at different cafes in Sacramento for years. I've always nodded and smiled, but I never rated more than polite service until recently.

A few weeks back, I noticed that my barista-guy had misjudged the size of my mug. He overfilled it and it ran down the side. As he was wiping it, I said "that'll get you dq'ed at Regionals." He said "I don't compete at Regionals." I asked him why not and he said, "Because I'm the only person who can handle $1200 in two hours at the register during the competition." He told me that he now knew that my mug was a trifle small and that he would adjust his freepour accordingly.

I guess we're friends now, because ever since then all of my drinks have designs on them. I've gotten a tulip, a heart, a crescent moon, a spiral, and some abstract designs. I'm told he is working on a sunset scene and look forward to that. But I am not in my usual cafe. I am far away, in a different town. I will drink my plain latte and try not to judge. Some places have different cultures and traditions and are not obviously inferior just because they do not have pictures in their latte foam.

Maybe they draw pictures for the regular customers who are nice to them. And they can tell that you have a small, withered heart overflowing with wist and nostalgia and are always thinking of some other barista.